Jacqueline Smith: Find out what your neighbors are thinking

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, September 20, 2015

Back in May, AJ Galante of New Fairfield sent his first opinion piece to The News-Times. We had been back and forth through email and phone conversations and now the writing was done. He clicked “send.” And then waited for a response. Would his commentary get published?

The next day, I got back to him. “I was nervous opening this,” he replied to the email, “I felt like I was back in school waiting for a grade!”

It would have gotten an A (though I’m glad there’s no grading of the op-eds and letters that arrive daily). Galante’s piece, “Why I love boxing,” gave readers a perspective into a world many otherwise would not see and was written with an authentic voice.

His back-in-school reaction reminded me how thrillingly important it is to see one’s name published in the newspaper, to express an opinion and stand up for it with your name, for all to see.

Five days a week you can read commentary written mostly by local readers who offer their own particular views of the world. Usually it’s not about boxing, but that doesn’t mean there’s any lack of fighting among writers!

An editorial page gets lively, in fact, when readers are responding to each other. (Stephan Lesher of Southbury attracts a variety of rebuttals and support.) It truly is a community dialogue, at its best.

Here’s how Joseph Tartaglione of Newtown put it when were were chatting on the phone Friday: He “thoroughly enjoys” reading what his neighbors are thinking. Even if he disagrees.

Disagreement is OK in my book, too. Reading differing opinion helps sharpen your own thinking (that’s why I regularly read George Will), and sometimes see the world through another’s prism. These editorial pages would be bland if everyone had the same opinion.

Is one opinion better than another? No, remember — no grades. But here are some tips about writing commentary for a local newspaper:

A local topic will get more attention than national or international issues.

Commentary is more effective when it tries to persuade the reader, and is not simply a spout-off for the writer.

Write in your own voice. Otherwise, your commentary will sound stuffy or stilted. Everyone has her or his own style. For example, Gail Lehmann of Ridgefield is effective in presenting research on gun control, but for another writer it might sound more like a report.

We have several ways you can join in the community dialogue of your editorial page. Some people like sending a quick You Said It - 50 words or fewer (yousaidit@newstimes.com). Letters are a time-honored tradition. Ours go up to 300 words (letters@newstimes.com). And we have longer commentary called Where I Stand that can go up to 700 words (letters@newstimes.com).

Some newspapers do not accept hand-written letters, but we still do. It just might take longer for publication as I have to hand-type them into the computer system.

With all You Said Its, Letters and Where I Stand commentary, include your name, town and a contact number. Your number is not published.

With the election season gearing up, I’m expecting lots of letters. But there’s many other issues out there affecting our lives — and I look forward to hearing your opinion on it all.